Fashionista
by Badmitton
Summary: <html><head></head>Wanna-be investigative journalist Matoi Ryuko finds herself surrounded by all sordid secrets she could ever wish for as she takes up a new project on Harime Nui and her prize model Kiryuin Satsuki. Will Ryuko charge forward to unravel the dangerous secrets of the Kiryuin family, or will she set aside her nature to protect newfound love? AU.</html>
1. Chapter 1

This will possibly be as cliche as hell...

XXX

Nine years ago:

Her father had told her to take the metro to school, that she was old enough now to go by herself. In denial, Matoi Ryuko squashed the trepidation in her heart and boarded with a forced swagger, her senses taking in her surroundings with the hyper-sensitivity of the nervous mind.

As usual, the public transport was dirty and noisy, and Ryuko looked around for a seat near a window, her mind filled with those bizarre fantasies one gets when surrounded by unfamiliar people - those fantasies about overcoming the social norm of perfectly articulate silence and striking up an outlandish and meaningful conversation with a mysterious but friendly stranger. She knew that the odds of such an experience were slim, but she was still young enough to believe in such magic, so she sat carefully next to a girl with sleek black hair who looked about her age, swinging her satchel full of books to rest on her lap and turning to study the girl silently.

Her eyes were sunken and staring, ringed with black, but she was otherwise flawlessly beautiful, her features sharp and unusually developed for a girl her age. Ryuko felt that the "mysterious" criteria of her public-transport daydream was sufficiently fulfilled, and so she puffed out her chest and steeled herself for the insane venture she was about to take, a feat comparable to talking on an elevator.

"Hi," she blurted, a little too loudly, "I'm Ryuko." She knew she should say something else, something to break the ice, but the silence had stretched on too long and her fear began to swallow her as the girl jumped and turned to look at her. She appeared to wrestle between exhaustion and disdain and an ironclad sense of appropriate behavior for the well-mannered. The latter must have won out, for she smoothly extended a hand and whispered in a hoarse voice.

"Satsuki. The pleasure is mine."

Ryuko gulped and took her hand, shaking it roughly.

"I'm going to school." she divulged hastily, regretting her commitment to the ongoing conversation. Satsuki looked like she didn't want to be disturbed, and the intensity of her gaze was making Ryuko nervous. "Where are you going?" she croaked, resolving to leave her seat-mate alone after the current exchange.

"Nowhere."

Ryuko blinked, surprised, but she had already resigned herself to silence, so she nodded and smiled awkwardly before turning away. Shame burned in her face and she faked a yawn so she had an excuse to put her head down on the bag on her knees to hide her redness. Normally she would have shrugged away her trepidation and barreled onwards, but something about the way that girl looked at her made her sad and nervous, and in her embarrassed contemplation of the stout weave of her backpack, Ryuko quickly fell asleep.

She awoke in a panic, scrambling to get a grasp on her hazy mind, smacking her head violently against something hard that shifted with a cry and a thump. She quickly realized that she had jammed her head against the elbow of the person sitting next to her, sending said person flying into the shifting, corrugated aisle of the metro.

"Holy hell, I'm sorry," she shouted, her voice sticky and her teeth tasting like nap. Even as she stood to help her seat-mate, her eyes frantically searched for some sign that she hadn't missed her stop. She had. By at least forty minutes. "Damn it," she growled before reaching for the girl she had pushed over. To her surprise, it was still Satsuki. "You're still here," Ryuko said, trying to mask her rude tone and placing a hand on the other girl's shoulder.

Satsuki resisted the touch with such violence that she knocked herself back onto hands and knees. All her weight rested on one hand that trapped her hair against the floor, and she groaned as she frantically tried to lift her head but was stopped by her own hair. A few seconds was all she needed to compose herself, but she still looked flustered as she lowered herself into her seat next to a thoroughly confused Ryuko.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Ryuko kept muttering, holding her hands out in case they were needed but hovering awkwardly to avoid another spastic scene. Satsuki tucked her mussed hair behind her ears and closed her eyes for a few seconds, easing her breathing.

"No, no, it's quite all right. I'm sorry. I don't mean to alarm you." Ryuko breathed a sigh of relief and sat back in her seat.

"Damn," she muttered again, raking a hand through her messy black hair "I missed my stop." Satsuki cocked her head at Ryuko.

"That's too bad. Would you like me to call you a cab?" Satsuki asked, clearly trying to make amends for her odd behavior. Still, Ryuko stared at her curiously. A cab? Call her a cab? Ryuko wondered if she had seriously misjudged the age of the girl sitting next to her. She didn't look much older than fifteen, but her cadence and phrasing suggested she was much older.

"How old are you?" Ryuko blurted out before immediately blushing. Satsuki stared, then laughed softly.

"I'm fourteen." Ryuko cocked an eyebrow but said nothing, choosing instead to answer the previous question.

"Nah, I'll just ride back to my stop. Well..." she looked at her watch, "I guess I'll just go home." Eyeing Satsuki carefully, but judging the ice to be sufficiently broken, Ryuko abruptly asked, "Why are you going nowhere? I mean, everyone has to be going somewhere, don't they?"

The humor left Satsuki's eyes and she leaned back against the undoubtedly disgusting seat back.

"I can't go home." she whispered. "I can't take any more." Ryuko twiddled her thumbs, not knowing what to say. Her teachers had always talked in whispers about kids who had problems at home, but she had never encountered an example. Frankly, she was at a loss for words.

"Wanna come have lunch with me?" she asked. Satsuki's mouth dropped open, but, having talked herself out of a legitimate excuse, agreed. Something in Satsuki's better judgment twinged about going home with a stranger, but violent memories kept her from believing that some remote, uncertain evil could be worse than one so close at hand.

As best they could, the two girls chatted amiably through the remainder of the ride.

XXX

"Dad! I'm home!" Ryuko called as she stepped in the door, ushering her new friend inside. "I missed my stop and I brought a friend for lunch!"

From his desk, Matoi Isshin sighed and shook his head. Creakily standing, he refrained from berating his daughter in front of whatever stray she had found and shuffled into the kitchen.

"Fine, but you'll have to make sandw-" He stopped suddenly, his voice choking in his throat as he laid eyes on Satsuki. Nervously, she held her own hands and bowed.

"Good to meet you, Dr. Matoi. I'm Kiryuin Satsuki."

Ryuko watched in utter surprise and intense adolescent embarrassment as her father's eyes reddened and filled with tears. Furiously he wiped them away, only barely keeping himself from rushing to take now very uncomfortable Satsuki into his arms. Drawing himself up to his full (if stooped) height, he forced a trembling frown and pointed to the door.

"Young lady!" He boomed. "You will leave my house immediately! Go home!" Frightened and hurt, Satsuki rushed to do as she was told, barely giving Ryuko a glance.

"Dad!" Ryuko screamed as the door slammed shut.

"No, Ryuko!" he shouted back, his voice so powerful and serious that it stopped any thought of protest in his daughter's mind. Her chin trembling, Ryuko rushed to her room, slamming and locking the door behind her.

Dr. Matoi Isshin sank to the floor and cried.

XXX

Satsuki wandered the streets, exhausted. She had run from Ryuko's house with unashamed fervor, bowling over indignant sidewalk-users left and right. She had only stopped when her trembling legs refused to carry her anymore. After a short rest she had gotten up to wander, the churning inside her keeping her from being still.

A soft wind lifted her hair as she concentrated on her feet, trying to make them take her to a safe place without her knowing where that was. She shut her eyes for a mere second, closing out the world around her.

She jumped as a tiny hand threaded its icy fingers through hers. Her attempts to extricate herself resulted only in a bone-crushing force on her hand. Satsuki jittered in place, refusing to look at the little girl who had materialized beside her.

"Where ya been, Kiki?" The little blond asked in a high-pitched whine as she reached her free hand up to casually stroke Satsuki's hair.

"Nowhere," the taller girl muttered, still tugging uselessly at her hand.

"Well, mama wants you home. We've been worried about you. Honestly, you're lucky I found you first."

Satsuki grimaced, resisting the urge to dig her heels into the ground. The blond made several small _tsk_ sounds, waggling her finger under Satsuki's nose.

"You're in such a bad part of town, too, and so far away! Were you trying to run away, Kiki? Mommy won't be happy to hear that, and she's already mad! What's she gonna do when I tell her you were trying to run away?"

"I wasn't running, Nui," Satsuki mumbled, a frustrated growl beginning to rise in her voice.

"It'll sure look that way when I tell Mom how you kicked and screamed when I tried to bring you home." Malice glowed from Nui's huge purple eyes as her mouth turned into a smug, close-lipped smile.

"What do you want?"

"Silly big sister. I just want to play with you!"

XXX

hmm... Not sure if I like third person omniscient... *shrug.* Stay tuned!


	2. Chapter 2

Present day:

Matoi Ryuko quickly flashed her press badge to the unnecessarily massive security guard barring her way. Raking her hand through her shock of red-dyed and unruly hair, she braced herself for an hour or two of extreme annoyance.

What she wanted was to be an investigative journalist, to ask all the right questions and learn all the little secrets that lead up to a massive cathartic break into the respective yet equally sordid realms of business and crime. Since she was in high school she had been picking up her own private little investigations, pestering her father and prodding at her friends for a constant stream of information. Always in the back of her mind she had hoped little puzzle pieces would fall together to form one surprising and coherent whole, but always her imagination was disappointed.

Ryuko shook her head and sighed. Her life seemed to be a constant stream of disappointments. Her degree in journalism wasn't enough to get her a job as a bloodhound, and so she had to choose between transferring to the fast-food industry to pay the bills and taking a job as a low-level reporter for a squalid little fashion magazine run by a tiny, crotchety, pink-haired troll doll.

She had chosen the latter, though it had been a seriously considered decision.

Somehow, Ryuko's editor had an in with the Kiryuin family (she suspected it had something to do with blackmail or drugs). The Kiryuins, owners of the REVOCS corporation, had always been prominent in the fashion industry, supplying material and designs to nearly every clothing company in the world, but never before now had they ever been so prominent in the eyes of the public.

Part of must have been Harime Nui's (the second daughter of REVOCS' CEO Ragyo Kiryuin) rise to power as the youngest designer to ever attain the title of Grand Couturier. Her designs were fascinating in their boldness and scope, breaking genre boundaries as easily as a bad television program breaks the fourth wall. Often fashion magazines worldwide would sport designs smacking of both traditional Lolita and the sharp edginess of modern Goth (or some other such seemingly absurd combination), covers screaming the name of Harime Nui.

However, Ryuko suspected that perhaps the greater part of the world's new fascination with the Kiryuin name had more to do with Harime's sister and exclusive model, Kiki. Hers was the type of beauty that preoccupied the world so greatly it never even thought to demand a real name. Somewhere, somehow, little pockets of people floated about who knew Kiki's name, but no one cared. They simply wanted to gape at her in awe as she demurely allowed her face and body to be put on display for the sake of fashion.

Ryuko could appreciate an exquisite supermodel as well as the next person, but something about Kiki made her subconscious squirm as it thrashed around looking for some piece she was missing. There was something familiar she couldn't pin down in her mind, and it frustrated her to no end. It was the for slim chance of meeting Kiki in person that Ryuko had agreed to do this atrociously long interview with Harime. Otherwise, she would have told editor Jakuzare to go do horrible things to herself, for although Nui's artistry was fresh and compelling, she was sweetly and agonizingly annoying.

Unbelievably annoying.

As she thought about the horrors that awaited her, Ryuko began to regret agreeing to do the interview as she sat in a weird-smelling room waiting to be received. She had always been sensitive to high-pitched noises, and she protectively cupped her hands over her ears, grimacing, as she thought of Nui's dog-whistle squeak.

_Damn it_, she thought, _I don't get paid enough for this_.

"Miss Nui will see you now," a faceless assistant announced, shoving Ryuko unceremoniously into the designer's suite. Ryuko shook her head and steeled her gut, absentmindedly fingering the recorder in her pocket. She looked around at the atrociously pink decor of the main room, searching for but not finding her interviewee. _That's so strange, I could have sw..._

"Hey there, cutie," said a voice directly into her ear. Harime Nui had materialized behind her and casually draped her slender arms over Ryuko's blazer. The journalist jumped visibly, feeling as though her stomach had been slung into her lungs. She gulped as she tried desperately to keep her instinctive body from throwing punches. _Was she hiding behind the door? _Using every bit of restraint she had, Ryuko turned and extended a hand.

"Thank you for agreeing to see me," she said in her "professional" voice, "I'm Matoi Ryuko from _Hiss_. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

"Ohmm?" Nui hummed, sounding like a mosquito as she rocked back and forth on her perilously high heels. "Questions? Of course! Anything for you, Ryuko!" Ryuko drew upon her years of customer service college jobs to spit out a smile to mask her surprise. Harime Nui wasn't just annoying, she was _off-putting_, creepy, almost. Said designer grabbed Ryuko's hand like they were in grade school and dragged her to a small table that looked like it was designed for either a small girl or a very old woman, lace doilies and all. She sat Ryuko down and sat across from her, placing her hands on her lap and leaning in close, her eyes unblinking.

Ryuko shuffled the papers she was holding, looking for the pre-written questions she had prepared as she absently murmured polite small-talk. She looked up to begin the interview, but the look she was being given her made her freeze, comments on the weather dying awkwardly on her lips. The tiny fashionista looked like she was undressing Ryuko with her eyes, and not politely, either. Her huge, purple eyes were dilated with an expression of lust the young reporter was not unfamiliar with, and her small, neat hands twitched as if she was tearing at Ryuko's clothes in her mind.

Ryuko blanched and stuttered, briefly losing her cool.

_What the fuck?_ she thought, setting her papers down and raking both hands through her hair. Nui's eyes followed her every move. _It's only an hour, deal with it_. Coughing uncomfortably, Ryuko pulled her recording device out of her pocket and thumbed it on, placing it on the table with a customary "do you mind?"

Mechanically, Ryuko asked her questions, shifting in her seat so that her knees faced the door and away from Harime, but the gesture didn't stop the freakishly blond 20-year-old from occasionally reaching out to brush her fingers against the back of Ryuko's hand as she took notes.

After a half an hour or so, the questions on designs and personal habits were all used up, and Ryuko was forced to decide between twenty minutes of a dangerous lack of topic and making questions up off the top of her head. Though remaining exteriorly calm, her mind whirred before snatching up a question that popped to the forefront of her brain.

"What's Kiki's name?"

For the first time in the course of their conversation, Harime Nui sat back and away from Ryuko, grinning a little as she blinked and shifted her eyes slowly to the space to her left.

"Kiki!" she screeched suddenly instead of answering, making the other girl's dyed hair stand on end. "Come here!" Nui leaned against the back of her seat, folding her hands and closing her eyes serenely before addressing Ryuko once more. "She can tell you herself."

Ryuko's heart jumped in anticipation, throbbing painfully in her chest with contained excitement. A tall figure appeared obediently in the doorway with a swish of glossy black hair, and Ryuko couldn't help but rationalize with a twinge of unacknowledged jealousy that the model must be hopped up on horse vitamins to make her skin glow and her hair shine. As usual, however, Kiki's eyes were dead in her expressionless face, and for a long moment she stood silently in the doorway.

The tabloids hypothesized absently that Kiki was retarded. She never spoke or looked at anyone or anything at all, really. She was never seen without her sister or mother by her side - they gracefully took all questions directed towards her - and her eyes consistently held a checked-out, vacant look. She only ever modeled for Nui, and a few buzzed that some unfortunate mental circumstance kept her from realizing her potential, and that her sister was cruelly cashing in on it.

Ryuko and the rest of the world would've believed it if it weren't for those few candid photos that sold like new Apple products. Every once in a while, a hidden cameraman or sneaky paparazzi would snap a glimpse of Kiki as she was. Every so often, her eyes would be caught glowing with a vibrant fervor of passion and intelligence powerful and seductive enough to make a Tibetan monk jizz his pants. Those shots, few and far between, made the National Geographic cover girl look like day-old asparagus, and they added enough mystery to the supermodel to pique the interest of photographers everywhere.

Ryuko, in the meantime, struggled with her own mystery as the taller girl sat down in the chair Nui had pulled up for her and considered the journalist disinterestedly. Something looked familiar. Ryuko resisted the urge to pound her fist against her head. What was it?

Still grinning, Harime leaned her head against her sister's shoulder. The small blond looked relaxed and doting, but the lust still had not gone from her eyes. Ryuko furrowed her brow as she watched the two sit together. By the sudden tightening of the dark-haired girl's shirt over her stomach and chest, she concluded that Nui had just slid her hand up into the back of her sister's shirt. Goosebumps appeared on Ryuko's arms. Kiki remained expressionless.

"Kiki," Nui whispered, bumping her head lightly against the model's jaw, "Be good and introduce yourself."

"Kiryuin Satsuki," she announced robotically, "The pleasure is mine."

Memories flooded into Ryuko's mind like a searchlight. The metro. Nine years ago. The girl she had pestered her father about for years on end. Her first real unsolved mystery. Almost falling from her chair, Ryuko struggled to remain composed, not sure if she should make it known that they had met before. All discomfort of the last few minutes dissipated as her mind whirred with unanswered questions. She didn't want to say anything in front of Harime, but her chances of meeting Satsuki again were slim, and Ryuko was far from letting go of her childhood fascination. She tapped her fingers spastically against the table, but Nui solved her problem for her.

"Say," she chirped suddenly, sitting up and pulling her hand to herself so she could fold it with its twin on the table. "Our hour's almost up, but I've had such fun talking with you, Ryuko!" She sighed, delicately lifting a finger to her mouth in thought. "Well, on Sundays my family has brunch together! I'm sure your magazine would just love to sport an interview with Kiryuin Ragyo, hmm? Join us! Come on, please?" Her childish twittering did nothing to hide the desire and what looked like malice in her eyes, but Ryuko's hound instinct couldn't let her curiosity go.

She opened her mouth to agree when she caught Satsuki's eye. The powerful blue disks were trembling with sudden meaning and an unidentifiable, desperate vehemence. If Ryuko had had a camera she could have easily made a small fortune. Satsuki gestured almost imperceptivity to Ryuko's recorder and whispered something more softly than could be heard. Irritated, Nui forcefully pinched her sister's side.

"Don't mutter, sis. It's not cute." She turned again to Ryuko. "So, how 'bout it, Sweetie?"

Collecting her things, Ryuko nodded quickly and smiled brightly, though her joy came from the thought of finally answering her gnawing questions rather than the idea of brunch with the Kiryuins. Quickly she thanked those involved for their time and saw herself out.

Once she was outside, she examined her recording device and wondered why it had been gestured towards. Suddenly, she remembered Satsuki's unheard murmurs and quickly pressed the fast-forward button until it reached the end of the recording and turned the volume all the way up.

"Get out, please," she had whispered, her voice cracking slightly in the low register, "while you still can."

Ryuko let the hand holding the small record-keeper fall limply to her side as she breathed in awe. Far from being dissuaded from her task, Ryuko grinned wildly as the crisp wind picked up her hair and whipped it about her face.

Despite the instinctive trepidation rising in her gut, she couldn't wait until Sunday.


	3. Chapter 3

Sunday, Kiryuin Manor, main entrance, 10:00am

A butler who Ryuko instantly dubbed "Fat Hitler" showed her into the main dining hall. If it were possible for something to be beautiful sordidly, it would be the house that she had just entered. All the walls were white, giving it that classy asylum feel, but they were covered in large, unidentifiable artwork painted all in only the warmest of tones. The blinding brightness of the walls together with the deepness of the paintings made being in those rooms feel like one was at an exhibit of the infinite. Ryuko felt that if she reached out her hand her arm would go through a painting and into the twisted world depicted inside.

The doors were disproportionately large, and she was glad Fat Hitler was there to help her open them. Nervously, she fiddled with her recorder as Harime's pale purple eyes turned to her without her ever turning her head. The small blonde stood so fast that it resembled a poorly-made stop-motion in which the only pictures taken were of sitting and then fully standing. Just as quickly, she was in Ryuko's face, grinning.

"I'm so glad you could make it!"

"Yeah, my editor was all over this piece, so... ah..." Ryuko rubbed the back of her neck, blushing. She was ushered to her seat next to Satsuki, who was neatly dressed and perfectly still, obviously not engaged in the scene before her. Nui sat on her sister's other side, but unabashedly reached and leaned over her to get to Ryuko. The food was already laid out, but no one was touching it, so Ryuko took the hint and resisted her desire to begin wolfing the exotic-looking spread. Instead, she absently rolled a guava over her bread plate and considered Satsuki.

All she wanted was to talk to her, no, to get her to talk, but the expression in the model's cold eyes instantly killed the possibility. A tiny bit of hatred sparked in Ryuko's chest.

_Who does she think she is? Sitting there all beautiful and perfect. She won't even look at me! She's too good for me and everyone else on this goddamn planet!_

At this point, however, Ryuko's fascination with Satsuki went beyond good will - it was a matter of pride. Ryuko resolved to unravel her and take her secrets by force, if necessary. Her childhood was spent pestering her exhausted yet unforthcoming father for the details of his odd behavior, riding the metro around and around for hours, hoping she would come back, looking up her name in the phone book and calling every number listed. No, she wasn't damn well about to give up now.

Ryuko opened her mouth to ask an unformulated question when the room was suddenly filled with brilliant light and Nui and Satsuki rose from their places. Following suit, Ryuko jumped to her feet, just barely stopping herself from impulsively saluting.

With sedate yet clacking steps, a statuesque woman dressed all in white entered the room, grinning behind pale, heavily-applied lipstick. Her face was the picture of Aryan perfection, but it was overshadowed by her impossible hair. Defying gravity with ease and perfect aloofness, it rose effortlessly from either side of her head, shimmering in colors as equally impossible as its shape. Fat Hitler pulled her chair back for her, bowing.

_Kiryuin Ragyo_, Ryuko thought, interested. She watched as she sat at the head of the table, several places up from where the three girls were lined up. Nui was closest to the Kiryuin matriarch, but still further than arm's distance. They all sat down at the same time, though admittedly Ryuko was a little late. Kiryuin Ragyo picked up her silverware and considered Ryuko with an amused tilt to her mouth.

"I see one of you has brought a friend." she lilted in a deep, resonant voice. "Satsuki?"

"No, Mama," Nui buzzed, reaching over her sister's lap to grab Ryuko by the lapel. "I brought her! She's working for the Jakuzure brat and she wants to ask you some questions."

"Interesting..." and she did look interested, her deeply-colored eyes burning against her ivory skin. Ryuko felt pinpricks on the back of her neck as all her hairs began to stand on end. She breathed a sigh of relief as Ragyo averted her gaze and attended to her food, addressing Nui.

"You know better, Nui. No, I won't take any questions today." Harime pretended to look surprised, but Ryuko couldn't help but feel manipulated. "Today is Sunday," Ragyo continued, a far-off look in her eyes. "Today is the day the world-spirit rests in its ceaseless search for self to make itself pure. It is our duty as well to make ourselves pure and those around us who would insult the apex of history!"

Ryuko blinked, unsure how to deal with the odd mix of a random biblical reference and distinctly Hegelian philosophy.

"Today is the day all are purified!" Ragyo looked so excited about her private little world that Ryuko didn't have the heart (or the guts) to point out that she wasn't making any sense. To her amusement, she thought she saw Satsuki rolling her eyes, though she couldn't be sure, for the gesture happened with great speed, if at all. Satsuki leaned forward to mix some milk into her oatmeal, her hair falling in a curtain over her face, but Nui quickly pushed her back and away from the table so she could continue staring fervently at Ryuko, who was now feeling very out of place.

_She knew_, Ryuko thought, narrowing her eyes_, she knew all along I wouldn't be allowed to ask any questions. What a bitch. What the hell does she want from me?_

Nui reached over and put her hand on Ryuko's arm.

"That's too bad, but as long as you're here, we might as well make good use of our time together..." Nui's hand drifted up her arm and over onto her neck before slowly gliding down...

Satsuki suddenly jerked forward and grabbed her teacup, gulped from it ferociously and slammed it back down on the table with such force that it shattered, forcing Harime to draw back her arm to keep from being cut on the large shards. Nui glared at Satsuki, who murmured an innocent apology and begin to pick up the debris. Ryuko sensed a silent power struggle, and she could have sworn she heard Nui whisper,

"You'd better keep that glass, 'cause I'm gonna make you eat it!"

"It's china, not glass," Satsuki retorted audibly and almost amicably, though there were dark overtones in her voice. Nui's eyes took on a crazy expression and she lifted a hand as if to lunge out in a vicious backhand, but at the last second her eyes shifted again to Ryuko and she smirked.

"Say, Ryuko," she chirped, reaching over to her again, sprawling her arm over her sister's plate, "Why don't you stay today? Mother's right about Sundays. I think everyone should know how our little weekly ritual is done. It really does wonders, doesn't it, Kiki?"

"I...I...well..." Ryuko stuttered, now thoroughly disturbed. She had heard of sibling rivalry, but this battle was operating on a plane that may as well have been in the fourth dimension. She wanted to get up, yell at the top of her lungs, and run out, waving her hands over her head.

Satsuki had bent the fork in her hand and her cheek twitched. Quickly, she glanced over at her mother, who had stopped eating to watch with a mildly amused smirk sprawled lazily over her face. Shaking her head in a 'to hell with it' gesture, she brought the fork down onto Nui's arm.

Nui screeched and gripped herself by the wrist, staring at the blood that gushed out of her arm.

"Nui!" Satsuki cried, "What was your arm doing on my plate? I'll go get you a towel." Without another glance at the inhabitants of the room, she stood smoothly and, casually flipping her hair over her shoulder to keep it from her sister (who was trying to catch hold of her), she grabbed a thoroughly confused Ryuko by the upper arm and dragged her out of the room.

She all but threw her out.

"And don't come back." Satsuki murmured, turning to go back inside the house.

"Wait!" Ryuko called, breathless and completely baffled. But Satsuki didn't wait. She turned her back and shut the door with a loud boom. Angry, Ryuko stood there for a few moments before slinking off, her mind bustling with the force of all she had just witnessed. Even as she moved further and further from the manor, all she could think about was how to get back in. Her intense desire was far from sated. She used to be hungry for the answers behind her little mystery.

Now she was ravenous.

xxx

Monday, Kiryuin Manor, master bedroom, 4:30am

Satsuki lay awake, staring at the ceiling as her mind buzzed. She wanted to take a shower, run until she collapsed, then shower again, but she knew better than to get up without permission. Her thoughts drifted to Matoi, and an angry fire lit in her stomach to match the burning between her legs.

She had remembered her at first sight, the girl with the red streaks in her hair who had invited her to lunch. She had thought of her with a reminiscent fondness ever since that day. Closing her eyes, Satsuki smiled a little, thinking back to the girl who had not prodded at her to divulge her troubles, but had merely and kindheartedly offered her food and rest. That memory (among few others) had held her together over the years, and she regretted her inability to express her gratitude.

The fire of fury grew larger and began to lick her lungs as she reflected on Nui's intentions. Satsuki firmly resolved to never let that sweet childhood memory be taken and twisted into a macabre depiction of horror. She resisted the urge to pound her fist into said sister sleeping to her left and instead let her mind drift to other thoughts.

It was clear that Ryuko had thought her high-handed and disgustingly aloof. And she had been. Never before had Satsuki wanted to much to divulge her plans, her secrets, her true intentions. The loss of what could have been a friend sent her into an unexpected whirlwind of emotion.

_She must think I'm an idiot, a sham_, she thought with a pained twinge, before she grabbed hold of her feelings and shook them violently. _No. "Don't regard what anyone says of you, for this, after all, is no concern of yours."_

Despite her inner admonitions, Satsuki still found herself still out of her own control, and the passion rose in her throat so that she almost choked herself on the metal prongs that dug into either side of her windpipe. Slowly, so as not to disturb the two monsters resting sedately on either side of her, she wormed a finger between the nylon of the collar locked around her neck and her skin, tugging futilely.

Disgusted, she let her hand fall. It was insulting being forced to wear a training tool for unmanageable dogs. She much preferred the beatings of the past, but models must remain unbruised, flawless. She grit her teeth and almost laughed. Her mother's excuse for using such methods had long ago crossed the line between ensuring her daughter's continued compliance and her own absurd sexual sadism. It was so sick that thinking about it made Satsuki want to vomit.

Fortunately, her loathing had pushed out the unexpected sadness and Satsuki was able to relax again. So long as she didn't think about Ryuko, she should be able to sleep for an hour or two. She closed her eyes and slid her legs under as much sheet as she reach and forced her muscles to loosen against the mattress. Though she always hated it when the activities of Sunday night ended up in her bedroom, she wished that she was in her bed so that she could reach between the headboard and the mattress and pull out the small, well-used book she kept there.

Soroi had given it to her for her fifteenth birthday, and she must have read it hundreds of times since then. She could almost feel the letters embossed on the leather cover: _The Enchiridion_. She could almost smell the old, dog-eared pages and hear the words of Epictetus in her mind. Many times, on days full of stress and pain, she would recite those long-since memorized words to herself.

_"Some things are in our control and others not_._" _

She felt Nui shift beside her and she turned her back, rolling onto her side. She was cold and her clothes were...somewhere. Satsuki furrowed her brow, honestly unable to remember where she had been stripped. She bit back a groan as she felt an icy hand lazily stroke her between the shoulder blades.

_"Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our own actions." _

"Kiki," Nui whispered, gently biting her shoulder, "are you still awake?" Ragyo, from the other side, stirred and chuckled, reaching out languidly to take Satsuki by the hip.

_"The things in our control are by nature free, but those not in our control are weak, belonging to others. Remember, then, that if you suppose that what belongs to others is your own, then you will be hindered. You will lament._"

"I'll see to that that," their mother purred, pushing her oldest child over onto her back before suddenly letting go. Satsuki felt rather than heard the sharp click of the button against its plastic casing.

_"You will be disturbed, and you will find fault both with gods and men."_

Her back arched off the bed as the electricity drubbed her body and pulled her nerves taut. Pain flashed in her mind in spurts of static and white noise. When it ended, she collapsed, trembling and unable to breathe as Nui giggled and reached out to touch her again.

_"But if you suppose that only to be your own which is your own, then no one will ever compel you or restrain you. You will do nothing against your will."_

Her mother took her by the face and, ignoring the sparks that jumped from black hair to pale digits, stole a leisurely kiss, fingers moving to her jaw to pry her mouth open. Her sister's hand was spread over her belly.

_"No one will hurt you, you will have no enemies, and you will not be harmed."_

Satsuki held firmly to those words as Ragyo climbed over her and Nui twined their legs together. Her body was not her own, and thinking of it as such could only make her miserable. Her mind, however, would always be free, and soon, if all went according to plan, her body would join her mind in its liberty.

_You will be free._

xxx

Fork you, Nui!


	4. Chapter 4

When it rained, they played chess. They would sit in the third-storey library with cups of tea as droplets of water lashed against the many-paned window. Her mother would lean back, her eyes half-closed as she lazily considered the game while Satsuki would furiously bite her knuckle, her free hand hovering over the white and green marble board.

Sometimes they would talk of philosophy, and her mind would race and pound, feeling like it was swelling in her skull, as she considered all at once her next move, the construction of her argument, and the consequences should she lose the game.

When she was younger, she would try to protect every piece as if her life depended on it. Every pawn, every rook, every knight was a friend to her, and she almost couldn't bear it when they were swept aside to rest on the table beside the board. Satsuki smiled a little at the memory. Her heart had been so soft then.

She had learned, though, and quickly. There were consequences to losing a game with Kiryuin Ragyo. Often after a game she would look over at the board from where she was pinned down against the window seat and consider her king, firmly in checkmate. As a distraction from the hands that hungrily stroked her every line, she would repeat the game in the reverse in her mind, clutching desperately to the idea that there was some move she could have made that would have saved her. The rules to their little game were ironclad - if she wanted to leave the library untouched, she had to win.

So she had learned the art of sacrifice, of allowing a piece to be surrendered for the sake of the game. Her technique improved, and she remembered with great clarity a day when, in the third hour of the game, her mother had casually asked,

"Do you think Machiavelli is right in saying that the end justifies the mean?"

"Yes," was all that she had said, though her heart held onto the hope that it wasn't unqualifiedly true, for even as the monosyllabic answer drifted from her mouth, her mind was intent on taking back a rook she had given up.

She had thrown it under the bus, but still had every intention of getting it back. Her pawn was two spaces from the back of the board, ready to be traded for what she had given over. That day she had learned that although sacrifice was necessary, she still got to choose what she wanted to sacrifice.

She thought about that day as she stepped out of the building, relieved that the most demeaning lingerie shoot she had ever done was over. Keeping her face locked into neutral in front of the frantic paparazzi, she scanned the crowd for the short blue hair and high collar of her correspondent. She allowed herself to be briefly surprised when she saw Matoi's defiant scowl among the press. She shook her head.

_I don't have time for this. Where are you, Inumuta? _

She only had a few seconds to slip away, but their meeting was of the utmost importance. Panic started to rise in her chest before she saw him - he was walking towards their meeting place. Relieved, she went to push through the confused crowd when her arm was caught.

"You still owe me, Satsuki." Nui hissed into her ear, all sugary sweetness gone. "You still need to do something to make my arm feel better." Satsuki winced internally. Today's shoot had protected her from Nui's wrath, for there was nowhere for a bruise to hide under the skimpy underwear she had been modeling mere minutes ago.

Her next shoot, however, was for winter wear.

Panic exploded in her throat and Satsuki almost whined, not because of whatever ridiculous atrocity her sister had planned, but because her man was getting further and further away and she had no way to get to him. She turned her head to see her mother come towards them - once she arrived her fate would be set in stone.

Someone had to be thrown under the bus. In less than a few seconds her plan was solidified, the picture unraveled and rewoven in one fluid motion of thought. Regret twinged in her mind, but she reminded herself that the piece she had chosen to sacrifice would be reclaimed in a few moves. She raised an arm to point.

"Isn't that Matoi Ryuko?"

Nui's head swiveled as her pupils instantly dilated. Satsuki smoothly disentangled her arm and disappeared into the crowd, her belly churning.

As she walked, scribbling a hasty note on a printed card, she couldn't help but think that, although she had reclaimed many pieces in the countless matches she had played, she had never once won a game.

xxx

Ryuko stared at them, her hands in her pockets, not sure exactly what she was doing. She had caught wind of Kiki's (Satsuki's, she corrected herself) shoot and, despite the fact that Jakuzare had already assigned a different reporter, had scooted quickly downtown, intent on her own private mystery.

She had forgotten everything - her notebook, recorder, even her press badge - so she resigned herself to stand by, a little ashamed of herself, and watch.

_I'll get you, Kiryuin Satsuki_, her thoughts rumbled in determination as she watched Nui take the model by the arm and whisper in her ear. Satsuki tilted her head away as her eyes awoke and burned for the briefest of moments. The photographers gasped and checked their digital screens to see if they had caught it. They groaned dejectedly in unison.

Matoi's brow furrowed as she watched Satsuki raise an arm and point to her. She brushed her wild hair from her face and felt her cheeks grow cold as Nui's gaze turned to her. A close-lipped smile spread wildly over the blonde's face. Then Nui was gone, out of her line of sight, as Kiki pushed through the crowd and disappeared into a gaggle of semi-interested plebeians.

Ryuko went to follow the silky black head that was sweeping away, grinning as she added to her list of the disadvantages of being tall she used to console herself about her mediocre height.

_Number twenty-six: Nowhere to Hide_. Her brain told her excitedly that that would be a great title for a action/thriller screenplay, but the amused thought was quickly dissipated as she felt the nape of her neck grabbed by tiny, powerful fingers.

Nui was in her face, tugging at her clothes, dragging her through the crowd with an amazing swiftness and subtlety, somehow managing to convey a sense of complete ordinariness to the surrounding throng even as Ryuko struggled.

"Hey, sweet thing," Harime purred, never letting go of Ryuko's neck and belt loop. "You had to leave so early the other day. I had some things to show you."

"What do you want!?" Ryuko all but screeched, so surprised by the turn of events that she could barely register the world around her. She knew Nui was creepy (and possibly incestuous), but as she was dragged into an alleyway far from any trace of humanity, the pure evil that was Harime Nui hit her full force.

Nui threw her against the back wall, leaving Ryuko dazed. By the time, however, that Nui's mouth was on her neck and her hands in her shirt, Ryuko's instincts kicked in. She crouched, centering herself, as she delivered a brutal uppercut to the small blonde's jaw. Ryuko grinned in satisfaction at the crack of bone on bone, but it quickly faded as she realized that Nui barely seemed to feel it.

"You're so cool, Ryuko." Nui murmured, eyes half-lidded as she wiped her mouth, "You look so bad-ass right now." Ryuko kept throwing punches, blows that had dispatched full-sized men in the past, but Harime either dodged them with incredible speed or took them with a giggle.

Ryuko started to panic in a unique mix of fury and disbelief as her fists threw out faster, but more sloppily. Nui grew bored with her game and slipped under Ryuko's guard, grabbing her by the jacket and smashing her repeatedly into the wall behind them.

The world flickered and threw out sparks as Ryuko's head smashed into the brick. Gasping, she slumped into a loose but still guarded heap as Nui let her go. Dazed she looked up as Nui leaned over her, chuckling as her hands reached out.

_Oh my God, _Ryuko thought, _I'm going to be raped. By a skeezy blond chick. I'm not even in prison!_ She curled in on herself and bared her teeth, reacting more than feeling like a cornered wild animal.

"Harime Nui," a deep voice boomed, "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?" Nui turned, her eye twitching, before her face softened into a relaxed smile.

"Kiki. There you are."

Satsuki stood in the entrance of the alley, soft light from the lamppost glowing from behind her, her face set in an expression reminiscent of an Easter Island Head. She had her purse open and was haphazardly yanking out its contents onto the street, pausing only to slide her cash and credit card into a pocket hidden inside her coat.

"Don't you think this could give you some undesirable publicity?" Satsuki rumbled as she walked towards Nui, throwing the purse onto the ground. Nui hummed, twirling her finger through a curl, not apologetic in the least.

"Sometime, when you see something you want, you just have to have it! Isn't that right, Koko?"

Of all things, Ryuko was disgusted by the nickname. So much so that she clenched her fists again, intent on beating the rapey freak into a pulp. Satsuki beat her to the punch. Literally. Her fist lashed out towards her sister's face. Nui easily avoided the blow, but failed to notice Satsuki's other hand grabbing a fistful of her blond pigtails. Using the momentum of the strike, Satsuki stabilized as best she could in heels and threw Harime to the wet ground.

"You fall for that every time, Harime." Satsuki grunted out, her core tight. Nui lashed out and grabbed the wrist that was still tangled in her hair, pulling Satsuki to the ground with her.

"Who cares?" she screeched, her eyes rolling, "I still win!" In less than a second, Nui's impossible strength had her sister pinned. The blonde cackled crazily as she beat her fists into Satsuki's face and ribs. "I've been waiting too long for this, you subservient little bitch!"

Ryuko jumped without hesitation into the fray, locking one arm around a slender neck and using her other to try to stop the blows that kept falling on Satsuki.

Satsuki coughed, her wind gone, but between blows she managed to make significant eye contact with Ryuko.

"Scream," she mouthed.

Ryuko blinked but did as directed, throwing back her head and letting out a howl that cracked into a high harmonic at the end. It reverberated against the walls of the alley before being released into the world outside. In a few moments, shouts were heard and frantic voices called out to the girls. Ryuko called back and feet pounded just yards away. Nui growled and delivered a final blow before standing up and promptly punching herself in the face, the force of it sending her back into a wall. The brick crumbled. She added her voice to Ryuko's.

"Help," she screeched, "We've been attacked!"

Rage boiled up in Ryuko as she recognized the ploy. Too many people crushed into the alleyway, concerned and helpful but utterly suffocating. She turned to Satsuki, who was struggling to sit up, but no signs of rebellion showed on her face. With a gasp, Ryuko realized why Satsuki had disemboweled her purse before launching her failed attack. She had foreseen the deception and was playing into it.

Ryuko shook her head in utter disbelief and snapped her mouth shut. If Nui and Satsuki both attested to imaginary muggers, any story she divulged otherwise would look like the stressed ravings of a traumatized girl.

The cops had arrived, shoving bystanders aside and barking out orders before taking the three girls and gently leading them to the waiting ambulance to be looked over. Satsuki, blood running into her eye, brushed up against Ryuko and slid something into her pocket. A faint rainbow-colored glow appeared in the corner of her eye, and she turned to see Kiryuin Ragyo stride through the crowd that seemed to melt before her powerful charisma. Her hand was over her mouth and her eyebrows were knit together, but her dark red eyes still gleamed with perpetual mirth.

Brooking no argument, Ragyo took both of her daughters into her arms, waving aside the police officers and frantic paramedics. Satsuki held a hand over her face and winced as her mother kissed the top of her head, but overall she looked relieved, as if she had regained something she had lost.

Ryuko looked away and shoved back the poor man who was trying to attend to her bleeding head, her reaction to the events of the last few minutes manifesting itself as anger. Furiously, she dug into her pocket, pulling out the card Satsuki had placed there.

_Number Four_, it read, before it listed an address. She flipped the card over and squinted as she struggled to read the tiny scrawl on the back. _Stay at this address for a few days_, it read, _then go stay with a family member for a week or two. I will contact you. For the love of God, don't go to work! _

Ryuko grit her teeth, committing the address to memory before tearing it to shreds and dropping the pieces into a puddle. She shook her head at the officers who tried to take a statement from her, feigning shock. From across the street, she could just make out Nui rambling in a very convincing shaken-and-terrified voice about four huge burly muggers. Ryuko could barely keep from screaming in rage, her body trembling. An officer tried to restrain her as she stomped down the street.

"Where are you going?" he demanded, face unsure.

"I'm fucking going home!" She bellowed, shaking off the hand and stalked away, her own hand pressed to the back of her head.

xxx

Fear not, we will hear more about Satsuki soon!

~Bad Mitt


	5. Chapter 5

The next day, 6:30am

Nui stormed breathlessly into the spacious drawing room on the second floor of the Kiryuin manor. She threw herself with great force into a large armchair, causing the longsuffering piece of furniture to plaintively groan.

"She's nowhere!" Nui screeched, her high tone causing the windows to shudder in hidden resonance. Harime panted like a wild animal. Her hair was soaked and slicked against her head, making her eyes look huge and alien as they glowed feverishly in the soft lamplight.

Ragyo looked up from her book, raising a stately white eyebrow over her reading glasses. Her face twisted into a mix of annoyance and amusement, and, slowly, she closed her book, uncrossed her legs, and leaned towards her youngest. The lamp now behind her, her face was cast into shadow, lit only by the self-subsistent radiance of her hair.

Sensing her window of opportunity for undivided attention, Nui launched into her canticle of woe.

"I almost had her, I really did! She just disappeared! She wasn't at her house, or work, or her favorite restaurant. She just... just... she's gone... It's raining. I've been out all night, and I just wanna..." Nui's eyes began to burn. Shifting, antsy, in her seat, she swung her legs spastically. "Where's Satsuki? She owes me." She licked her lips.

"Sleeping."

Harime stood quickly, flexing her fingers and swinging her arms as if to leave. Before she could move, though, her mother was standing and not six inches from her.

They say that power is something you're born with, that you can't learn charisma. They're wrong. Power is all body language, a direct command to the animal in human nature. Ragyo stood, shoulders back, eyes staring directly into her Nui's, her mouth twisted into a relaxed but threatening grin. Her stance said 'I am alpha. Submit or die.' It was the implicit command recognized by the wild animal, recognized by the part in us that fights, hungers, and fears.

"You will not disturb her." Ragyo's voice rumbled around in her chest as her eyes burned with undeniable will. She offered no explanation - none was needed.

Nui responded immediately, sitting back down and pulling her knees up slightly, her face breaking into a wide, submissive grin.

"Of course, Mother," she whimpered through her teeth, looking away. Ragyo too relaxed, a smug smile on her face as she resumed her seat. Nui looked downcast, silently shifting her eyes from her mother's face to the door, not daring to look at either one for too long.

Ragyo threw her a bone, the equivalent of patting the head of the beaten dog:

"What was the name of that girl who caught your eye?"

"Matoi," the young girl perked up - you could almost see her wagging her tail. "Matoi Ryuko."

Ragyo cocked an eyebrow, genuinely engaged.

"How interesting," she murmured. "Nui, I think I know of a way for you to find your friend. I have a job for you, and I'll bet little Ryuko will be interested in the outcome." Nui grinned and sat up straight, cocking her head to one side.

"What's that, Mama?"

"There's a scientist by the name of Matoi Isshen. I need him... disposed of." Ragyo relayed her instructions carefully, Nui nodding crazily all the while. When she was finished, Nui jumped up and bowed theatrically.

"I'll do it! This will be fun! I'll bet Ryuko will be so surprised!"

"Good girl. You take care of that, and I'll take care of your sister."

After Nui had left, Kiryuin Ragyo sat back in her chair and leaned her chin against her hand. It was getting more and more inconvenient to keep Nui away from Satsuki. Her lip curled in distaste.

Nui was an animal. She solved all her problems and satisfied her lust for blood with base brutality. She knew nothing of the hidden defiance of the mind. All she could do was beat and torture and laugh at her carnage, never knowing that her target remained noncompliant and unbroken. Nui was an animal, and had to be dealt with as such. Ragyo knew better than to believe that such viciousness could break Kiryuin Satsuki.

_No, _the Kiryuin matriarch thought, sliding her fingers up to rest pensively on her mouth. _Satsuki requires a gentler touch. _

She looked out the window at the dawn, pensive. No, Satsuki was human to the extreme, full of pride, feeling, and rational reliance. Bringing her to submission would not be so easy. Kiryuin Ragyo was no fool. Even though her eldest wordlessly obeyed her every command, it was clear she still considered herself free. Ragyo chuckled to herself, resting her face on her hand.

_Silly girl. _

She had thought that continually claiming her body would be enough to eventually break her. She was pleasantly surprised when it did not. Nui was no fun. It took almost nothing to gain her complete compliance.

Not Satsuki. She had only cried once, when her innocence was first taken, and Ragyo was fairly certain it was only from pain and raw astonishment. She was incessantly defiant, and although their little struggles were delightfully exciting, Ragyo could not allow such insubordination any longer. Her daughter's strength of will was becoming troublesome, dangerous even. Often she would slip away, expertly throwing tails. Traces of corrupted correspondences were left on her computer, any recognizable remnants eaten away by some unknown virus. Her room constantly smelled of the sweet, acrid scent of burned paper. Ragyo didn't know what she was up to, and she didn't much care - it was the spirit of the thing that annoyed her.

Satsuki belonged to her, and it irked her that she didn't know it yet.

_I need to break her._

The endgame was upon them, all the necessary pieces set into play. REVOCS owned over ninety percent of the market, and soon it would be time. Ragyo couldn't afford any stray or errant slaves, as entertaining as they might be.

Kiryuin Ragyo shifted in her seat, brushing a stray piece of hair behind her ear as she reached for the phone on the end table. As she listened to the ringing on the other line, she considered her first move.

She was aware of her daughter's absurd attachment to stoicism (she was beginning to regret allowing it). Satsuki held so tightly to the idea that nothing could make her act dishonorably without her consent, and in this her freedom consisted. Still waiting for the other line to pick up, she pulled back the corners of her mouth in a crooked grin. The sadistic pleasure of her sickness spread through her belly, and she relished it fully, moving to slide a hand into her own dress.

_It would just break her little heart_ _if she found out she can't even control herself._

The other line picked up.

"Yes, hello?"

Her plan solidified as she stood and swept towards the window. Excitement spread through her, sending a wave of pleasure through her body, making her tremble. When she was finished, her daughter would no longer be the girl who stands tall and regal through countless travails, the girl who never makes a sound, never cries. No, she would be the girl who begs on her hands and knees for mercy, for escape from the pain, the girl who wantonly screams out her pleasure in the most shameful trysts imaginable.

"Yes, this is Kiryuin Ragyo."

And she would cry. After accepting her punishment, she would crawl, sobbing, to be held and comforted by the very woman who had disciplined her. Ragyo held in a chuckle, very aware of the receiver by her mouth.

_Delightful_.

"I'm afraid Satsuki won't be able to make it to her scheduled shoots for the next few weeks."

"We're very sorry to hear this," the man on the other line replied smoothly, no doubt planning to call his lawyers about breach of contract the second he hung up the phone. "Can I ask why?"

Ragyo threw her head back, her face stretched into a laugh, though no sound escaped her lips. Her hands were wandering over her own body as her exhilaration grew almost too great to bear.

"Oh, we just need some family time. I'm sure you understand."

xxx

Satsuki opened the door to the small office and took a glance at the line of desks in the bullpen. She felt almost amused by the shocked faces of the squalid little reporters. Smoothly, she stepped inside and walked to the back of the building, flicking her hair over her shoulder. Immediately, she regretted it as the weight of her hair tugged at her bruised head. She pressed a hand to her skull.

_Nui's so annoying. _

She opened the door to the back office, the windows covered by closed Venetian blinds. She stopped, surprised, then stifled a laugh; Jakuzure Nonon snored face-down on her desk, legs tucked under her in her chair. Satsuki, a smile twisting at her mouth, leaned against the desk and tapped the wood by Nonon's head. She awoke with a start.

"F sharp!" she cried, her hands reaching up to clutch the oversized hat pulled over her disheveled pink hair. "I said F sharp, you idiots!"

"Are you still living in your music, old friend?" Satsuki asked softly. Nonon jumped up, squeaking.

"Satsuki!" she practically jumped over the desk to take her friend into her arms. Satsuki fidgeted nervously in the hug, awkwardly patting Nonon's back. "I haven't seen you in so long! Well, really seen. The dumb bitches out there can't get enough of you. Do you know how much money you make me? Oh my God, your face! I heard about that!"

Satsuki grabbed the hand that reached up to touch the purple and yellow marks on her face, not allowing such intimate contact. Nonon took note and stepped back to lean against her desk, elbows propped akimbo against the edge of the counter.

"Those 'muggers' must have been pretty tough, huh?" Nonon said, making quotation marks in the air with her fingers. Satsuki looked away and changed the subject.

"Matoi Ryuko hasn't been here, has she?" Nonon narrowed her eyes but allowed her friend's evasiveness to slip by without overt scrutiny.

"Nah. I saw she was with you when that happened. I've been getting calls nonstop about people who want her side of the story, 'cause the Kiryuins have been so damn withholding on the details. No offense." Nonon shook her head. "I've been calling her and leaving all kinds of angry messages, but she just disappeared. Little whore."

"Good," Satsuki sighed, slumping into the guest chair by the door. "I hope she has the good sense to make herself scarce." Nonon cocked an eyebrow at her, making a humming sound through her nose that sounded more like a hiss than anything. Satsuki looked up, her eyes shifting around the room as if looking for escape before she huffed and folded her arms. "There were no muggers. Nui has her eye on Matoi. It was bad."

"Ah, I hate that freak," Nonon groaned, rocking back onto her hands. "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know," Satsuki admitted, "But Nui's been getting her way for far too long. It's time I put an end to it."

Nonon noted the determined tilt to Satsuki's shoulders and wondered what was going on in her friend's mind.

"We're heading into the endgame, my friend. Things are about to change." Satsuki fixed Nonon with her gaze, her eyes flashing with intense fortitude and what looked like hope. "Do you have Matoi's contact information? I need it."

xxx

Sorry this is so short. This was hard to write. I just kept saying "ew, ew, ew." the whole time I was writing. Ragyo's such a freak!


	6. Chapter 6

Two days later, Safe House #4, 12:15 noon.

Ryuko shifted and sighed, scooting closer to the small kitchen table so that she could rest the entire length of her calves on the table instead of just her heels. She knew that today (the third day of her imprisonment) was the day it was supposed to be safe to leave, but she was filled with the sluggishness that comes with prolonged inactivity and didn't want to move.

The whole time she was there, she couldn't wait to leave. The small apartment was clean and well-furnished, but it looked like it belonged to a simultaneously weird and boring old man. The refrigerator was full of food, but it was what Ryuko had dubbed "gross food": eggs, granola, yogurt, carrots, something that looked like kale in the bottom drawer, etc. She had considered curiously the avocados in the fruit basket on the counter before opening all the cabinets. She was disappointed to find only a mix for a protein shake and a small tin full of dried leaves.

She would not be proud to admit that she had tried to smoke them. It was only after she had choked and nearly set of the smoke alarm that she realized it was tea.

It was also boring. There was no television, only a small bookshelf full of books. Weird books. Ryuko distinctly remembered picking up a book that was titled _Critique of Pure Reason_. She had screamed like she had seen a spider and threw it into the corner of the room. Her interest was piqued when she noticed that there were what looked like little doodles in the margins. But it had turned out that they were just tiny illustrations of chess boards with moves listed under them. Knight to king-bishop four, queen to queen-rook two. Boring!

_Kiryuin Satsuki,_ she had thought, _Why do I waste my time on you?_

But her interest and attraction, bordering on psychotic, could not be quelled. She had found herself a few days ago staring like a fool at the magazine sporting Satsuki's image while waiting in line to buy milk and waffles. She blushed as she found herself wishing she had another magazine to stare at. She covered her face with her hands, feeling the heat of her flush.

_Why does she have to be so goddamn beautiful? _

But beauty was not enough to make Ryuko forget that languid arm rising to point her out in the crowd, directing those insane purple eyes to her. The heat in her face intensified as anger joined embarrassment. She jumped up, sluggishness dispelled, and slammed her palm against the table, making it shudder. She would never admit how much her unpleasant encounter with Harime Nui had shaken her. Even as she thought about it, her breath grew short and gasping as she remembered how helpless she had felt. Forcefully pushing down the lingering fear with rage, she grabbed her things and sped out the door, not bothering to close it behind her. She ran through the streets for a long time, her backpack slapping against her shoulders.

_Dad will know that to do_, she thought, _I hope he's home. Maybe I should call him._

Ultimately, she decided not to.

xxx

Harime Nui was a born hunter. Not like a borzoi tearing all-out after a wolf, panting and slobbering. More like a leopard, stalking in the shadows after a cute little baby deer. She would trap it and play with it mercilessly before dragging it into a tree to eat half of it before leaving the dead body to fall on a passing tourist.

She had spent the day previous circling the building, looking for signs of life while discreetly flicking cigarette butts into every flowerbed she could find. It had to look like the doc was a filthy smoker. Nui chuckled to herself as she sat on the roof, swinging her legs. The estate was remote and far from any prying eyes, giving her more freedom for her exploits than usual. Slowly, she slunk behind the brick chimney as a car pulled into the driveway.

_Man, what a geezer_, she thought as she discreetly examined the old man in the lab coat shuffle into the house. _I wonder what quarrel Mama has with this loser._ She shrugged to herself, not much caring. When she was finished, someone would notice the explosion and call the police. Then, all she would have to do was sit back and wait for Ryuko to come rushing to her. She licked her lips.

_She'll be so sad about her poor daddy's 'accident.' I'll bet I can make her feel better. _

A suppressed giggle came out as a wheeze.

_The things I will do to that girl._

She shifted and dropped lightly onto the kitchen windowsill below, balancing effortlessly on her farcically high heels. She slipped her measuring tape through the crack between the panes and flicked the latch open. In less than ten seconds, she flitted in, turned the gas on on the stove, and slipped out again, sealing the window behind her. She made a quick round of the house to make sure all the windows were closed before perching on the roof again. Sighing, she curled up on her side to take a nap, cooing happily as she thought of the good times ahead.

xxx

Pain, rage, fear. It wasn't healing. Why wasn't it healing? Nui heard herself screaming, cupping her hands over her left eye, gushing blood. The old man was dead (close enough), but the fucking bastard had cut out her fucking eye!

_Oh, God, why isn't it healing?_ Barely able to see through her good eye, partially blind from pain, Nui stared at the purple scissor-knife in her hand before throwing back her head and thrashing it back and forth, her pigtails wet with blood. Pain was not a sensation she was familiar with, and, like the blind man who is suddenly given sight, she was overwhelmed and baffled with the new sensation.

She heard the door click open and a voice shouting in the foyer. Who was it? No one was supposed to come! Oh, God, it hurt! Nui panicked. She needed to get out. She wanted to go home and let her mom take care of her. Still, her gut clenched at the thought of abandoning her true mission. A sudden burst of pain washed the thought from her mind and, resolve crumbling, she slipped out the back door. She paused only to light a match and throw it into the line of gasoline she had previously spilled against the wooden door.

_It's okay, _she reassured herself, _I still have time. _

xxx

Satsuki answered her phone as she walked down the stairs to the foyer, holding the phone to her ear by pressing it between her jaw and shoulder because she was so comfortable with her hands thumbs up in the back pockets of her jeans. It wasn't often that she got to wear street clothes, and she relished the feel of the cotton on her skin.

"Yes, hello?"

"Miss Satsuki," Soroi croaked warmly. Satsuki smiled. Soroi had been like a father to her for years, taking care of her when no one else knew she needed to be taken care of. Her face twisted, though, as she realized why he was calling.

"Hello, Soroi," she answered crisply as she stopped on the landing to lean against the banister. "How is your nephew?"

"He's well," he answered slowly, meaningfully, "He told me to tell you that it might rain today, so to bring an umbrella when you go out."

"I will. Thank you." She hung up without ceremony. So it was finally finished. She didn't know whether to laugh or to cringe. The completion of her lengthy project meant that she finally had something to fight back with, but the thought of the trials necessarily involved with rebellion put steel into her gut and a frown on her face.

_It's not time yet, _she chastised herself for her hasty thoughts and turned her mind to other things. She looked down at the phone still in her hand and blinked at it, remembering. _Ah, Matoi. If she's smart she's still alive_. Hastily, she punched in the number she had received from Jakuzure and ran her hand over the silky wood of the railing, still loitering by the stairs. Her mind hummed sleepily behind her eyes, threatening to erupt and spill its stresses into her consciousness.

The phone rang for a long time before it was picked up and a shriek filled her ears. Satsuki's eyes went wide and her body tensed as she clutched the phone in both hands.

"Matoi? Matoi. Calm down, what's wrong?" For a while there was nothing but ragged gasping before a wet, angrily sobbing voice answered.

"Fuck you, Kiryuin," Ryuko gasped on the other line, kneeling in the wet grass as the heat from her burning home blistered her skin. She looked, her vision blurring, at her bloody hand as it clutched a large red knife. Her mind almost collapsed in on itself as she struggled to register that she had just pulled a huge half-scissor from her father's chest. Blood was everywhere, on her clothes, smeared onto her face, and the heat was too much. It suffocated her as her shock and anger rose up from her gut and choked out of her throat in a ragged cry.

"Stay calm, Matoi, I'm coming." Satsuki stepped down from the landing and strode hastily to the door. She knew from Nonon that Ryuko would probably be staying at her father's place on the outskirts of town, but from the sound of things, something had gone horribly wrong.

_Nui_, she seethed to herself, _How did she move so quickly? _Shaking her head, she bent over the umbrella holder by the door and rifled through the folds of the white umbrellas tucked in against each other. Her hand grasped the smooth hilt of the small blade and she pulled it swiftly from its hiding place.

Still listening to Ryuko pant and growl curses on the other line, Satsuki admired the perfectly-crafted black knife. _Shiro_, she thought, _you've outdone yourself_. She could finally step outside the door knowing that if she met Nui, she had a chance at protecting herself and those she cared about.

_Do I care about Ryuko?_ she thought, unexpectedly. _Yes_, she decided firmly, before reaching for the doorknob. She realized with a start that she had left the sheath of the blade in the umbrella holder and she stopped and slid the knife back into the vase to connect with its counterpart, addressing Ryuko as she did so.

"Matoi, you need to get away from there. I'm coming to get you, but if you want to stay alive you have to hide. Matoi, are you listening? Whatever you do, don't -"

She stopped suddenly as she felt an arm snake around her waist, squeezing her forcefully. Another hand spread over her shoulder blades, keeping her bent over the umbrella stand.

"Are you making plans with a friend, Satsuki?" her mother, hummed, sounding pleased with herself. "Let me see." Satsuki moved as if to relinquish the phone before pretending to accidentally drop it, twisting her wrist so that the phone fell with a violent spin and cracked sharply against the marble floor. The screen shattered and went dark.

"I'm sorry." Satsuki murmured. Ragyo chuckled and casually wrapped a lock of her daughter's hair around her finger and used it to tug Satsuki into a standing position. As she was pulled up, Satsuki couldn't help but think about the blade still hidden and still in reach. She considered grabbing it and ramming it into her mother's eye, but, though the thought gave her great satisfaction, she steeled herself and let her arm go limp.

_No, _she reminded herself. _It's not time yet_. She fretted briefly about Ryuko before reminding herself that there was nothing she could do. _She's strong. She'll make it. She has to._ Ragyo let go of her hair and slid her hand into the neck of her shirt, making Satsuki shiver as the freezing fingers traced lazy patterns over her warm skin.

"That's too bad," Ragyo spoke softly into her hair, "but I need you here today." There was a peculiar, unfamiliar venom in her voice that made Satsuki pause. Her heart beat faster as she was released briefly and spun around before being pressed again into her mother's arms. Instinctively, she grabbed Ragyo's shoulders and pushed away, but Ragyo only chuckled and pulled her closer, her red eyes burning with mirth and lust. A large hand took Satsuki by the back of the neck and roughly kneaded the base of her skull, making her scalp tingle.

"Come with me," Ragyo purred, pausing briefly to lay a kiss over Satsuki's rapid pulse. "I have something to show you."

Satsuki felt her body go cold and numb, and as she was taken inexorably away, her mind's eye kept replaying the moment when she had released the hidden knife and relinquished all her power.

_What have I done?_

Miles away, Ryuko clutched her phone in her hand, staring at the pulsing "call ended" screen. The house behind her crackled as it burned, filling her ears with a roaring to match the howl of her blood in her ears. Fingers curling, her phone's screen cracked and splintered. Stiffly, she moved her eyes to the large scissor in her hand. Her mind flashed back and reeled anew at the sight of her father's face, twisted and animal beyond recognition with the pain of death.

_What do I do? _

xxx

I originally started writing this to help me write my thesis. I figured if I was already sitting down and in the writing mindset, it would be easier to plug away with my project. Haha, I'm stupid. All I do now is write this damn thing. That said (and realized), I'm torn on whether or not to continue this. I know people are reading this thing, and I know how annoying it is when people stop posting right at cliffhangers (seriously, that's infuriating!) But at the same time... well, anyway, at the very least, it'll be longer between updates. Sorry!

Also, I got a request to post this on Ao3, but I'm having trouble getting an invite, so for now you'll (whoever you are) have to put up with FF's annoying layout.


	7. Chapter 7

There was nothing. She was alone in the unending darkness and immutable silence. She was a thoughtless, bodiless, slowly fading consciousness without a name. Her mind couldn't function, she was everything and nothing. Satsuki felt herself slipping away, and in a desperate attempt to regain her sanity, she viciously jerked her arm. The sudden stop at the wrist, the searing pain in her shoulder, and the barely perceptible vibration of the bed beneath her for a single moment gave her a handhold on her thoughts.

She knew where she was. She knew that the small black space where she now lived wasn't real. She cursed herself for allowing the simple padding binding her eyes and ears to take her mind away. She knew she was lying on her back, limbs cuffed to bedposts. There might have been a sheet over her, but the perpetual lukewarm stillness had robbed her of her ability to sense it. She shifted her hips as much as she was able, and was satisfied by the scrape of cotton over her skin. Soon, though, the stillness returned, and the sheet disappeared from her consciousness.

She was falling back again, going to become a timeless nothing. Satsuki jerked herself again. Why couldn't she think? She had always though her mind a castle, something apart from her body, but here, where she couldn't see or hear, where there was nothing to smell, feel, or taste, she began to understand her own piteous dependence.

She felt a whimper rise in her throat. Muzzy, she wondered if she had made a sound or not.

_If someone screams in a forest, but nobody hears it, does it make a sound? Ehhhaha._ She hated herself for mentally chuckling at that poor excuse for a joke. Satsuki had never been good at making jokes.

A sudden touch set her nerves into a jumbled frenzy. A finger dragged down her lateral line from clavicle to pelvis, taking the sheet with it. Normally, such comparatively innocent contact wouldn't make her so much as blink, but here, in this black empty place, the touch was like fire, burning down her body in curlicues of rediscovered sensation.

Her mind had never been less her own. It belonged to the box now. And here in the box there was nothing except for the invisible hands, tickling and tearing at her nerves. Her thoughts were jagged, breaking off into shards of panic. She couldn't tell if she was being pleasured or tortured, and it confused her. She would have given in, would have let her spirit crumble right there and then, if it hadn't been for one single thought:

_You are better than this. Better than her. _

The furious spinning of her thoughts froze suddenly, though her body still trembled under the hands now lightly scraping across the dip between her hips. She took a deep breath. Satsuki knew she couldn't exist inside the box, so she went to live somewhere else. Somewhere she had already been.

Her memories were often not pleasant, but at least there was light there. Leaving (as she often did when with her mother) her body to its own devices, Satsuki withdrew into her earliest memories.

xxx

_"Please, Mother, let me hold her!" _

_A very small Satsuki bounced on her toes as she gripped the armrest of the sofa, gazing fervently at the baby in her mother's lap. Ragyo turned and appraised Satsuki coolly, one snow-white eyebrow raised. _

_"Please? I promise I won't drop her!" Without saying a word, the little girl's mother scooped her up with one arm, making her gasp in surprise. Ragyo gripped the baby firmly in one arm and her oldest in the other, holding Satsuki close to her face to scrutinize her. Satsuki fidgeted under the gaze but held firm. "Please?"_

_ Ragyo suddenly smiled, her face softening, and kissed Satsuki's cheek before depositing her on the couch. Carefully, she laid the sleeping baby into Satsuki's eager arms. Ragyo stood and turned to go. _

_"I'll be back in a few minutes." her voice hardened suddenly as she continued to speak over her shoulder, "Remember that you promised not to drop her, Satsuki." The little girl nodded firmly and turned her attention to her prize. _

_For a long while, the baby slept, and Satsuki gazed adoringly at her. _

_"Hi, little sis. I'm here for you. I'll always take care of you and we can play together sometimes if you ever learn how, okay?" To her great delight, the baby opened her great big eyes and cooed at her. Satsuki gasped and carefully lifted the baby up to kiss her. She went to lay her back down, but her sister had grabbed a large fistful of her soft black hair and was pulling mercilessly. _

_"Ow. Hey. Sto - OW!" Satsuki stood and pressed the baby to her body to try to trap the tiny arms against her body to stop them from their insistent yanking. Somehow, her sister's other hand had managed to catch hold of more hair. The baby chortled at this new amusement as she pulled harder. _

_Satsuki bit her lip. She was too small to climb back onto the couch while holding the baby, and she needed both hands to even hold her up. Tears of pain welled in her eyes as she held her sister helplessly. There was a sharp rip and the baby gazed in wonder at the chunk of torn hair she held in her fat fist. Satsuki almost dropped her then, but at the last minute she clutched her tighter. _

No, I promised!

_Satsuki stood there and cried as her sister gleefully ripped chunks out of her hair. Blood was seeping down into her collar and she breathed in ragged sobs, burying her face into the baby's soft neck as disproportionately powerful hands wreaked havoc on her hair. _

I won't drop her. I won't. She's my sister. I promised I would take care of her. 

_Then her father was there, wrenching the baby from her grasp and scooping her up, comforting her. Satsuki grasped his shirt gratefully, wiping her face against the rough fabric as he held her gently against his chest. The baby was crying, deprived of her new plaything, but her father ignored her, only picking her up to hand her silently to his wife as he passed her in the hall. Satsuki looked over her father's shoulder as he carried her to the door, and she thought she saw the ghost of a smile play over her mother's face as she rocked the baby in her arms. _

_She never asked to hold Nui again. _

xxx

Ryuko slammed the door to Nonon's office open so hard it bounced off the wall, springing back to crack her in the face if she hadn't caught it, splintering the wood beneath her grip.

"Jakuzure, I - "

"What the hell, Matoi!?" Nonon screeched, jumping up and shoving Ryuko out so suddenly that she fell back, tearing out a chunk of the doorframe in her attempt to stay upright. "Harime's already been here once and I'll be damned if I ever have to see her creepy face again." Ryuko held her breath, blushing furiously. Resisting the urge to whimper out a pathetic 'what did she tell you?' she stood and dusted off her jacket, sneering.

"You shoulda said something to me before assigning me to that interview, you little snake. It's your own damn fault."

"How was I supposed to know the little pervert would get the hots for your scrawny ass?" The reporters working in the main office had stopped to stare, and at that comment several mouths dropped open. Still the color of strawberries, Ryuko defiantly set her arms akimbo.

"The alley. Now." She turned on one heel, her non-pivoting food swinging out to kick over a wastebasket in a gesture of utter nonchalance. Nonon groaned and followed her.

"Get back to work, you floozies," she called squeakily to her aghast subordinates, "before I fire the lot of you." She slammed the door behind her.

"Matoi." Jakuzure hissed, breath misting in the fall air. "You are literally on a paid vacation. I am _paying_ you to not come back here. What the hell are you _doing_?"

"My dad's dead." Ryuko intoned flatly, abandoning what little tact she had in her. "Murdered. Blood everywhere. My house exploded." She shoved her hands into her pockets and rocked back onto the heels of her sneakers to lean against the brick wall behind her, looking away. Without saying a word, Nonon went back into the building, but she was back in less than a minute, carrying her coffee thermos.

"Here," she muttered, tossing the thermos to Ryuko. "I'm sorry."

"I don't want any -"

"It's vodka." Ryuko's eyes widened, but she hastily unscrewed the cap and took a swig. Sucking in air between her teeth with her lips pulled back, she looked at the tiny pink thing before her and considered how to formulate her request. She and Jakuzure had been working together for several years, and it had always been rocky between them. They disputed everything constantly, from style to office-appropriate behavior, but Ryuko had no other leads and her involvement with the Kiryuins had very recently become very personal.

"Jakuzure," she started, "I know you have an in with the Kiryuins. You have to give me information." Nonon raised an eyebrow, puffing out her cheeks as she held her breath. Ryuko sighed, bumping her head against the brick behind her. "Look, it's not just my weird little fetish anymore. Someone killed my dad and it was probably Nui, and I have nowhere to go from here. She has to go down and I can't do it myself. I _know_ you can help me."

"How exactly can I help you, again?"

"You obviously have connections with those psychos! How else could a shitty paper like this get exclusive interviews with the most powerful clothing people on the planet?" Nonon deflated, letting out her breath in a sigh and slouching slightly.

"I'm just friends with Satsuki, Matoi, okay?" Nonon curled a finger around a lock of her bubblegum-colored hair. "We grew up together. We help each other out. If that's what you call an in, then, sure, I got one, but that doesn't help you."

"Yeah, it does!" Ryuko's eyes burned brightly and she grabbed her editor by the shoulders suddenly, making her squeak in surprise. "Right after I found my dad..." Ryuko closed her eyes to shut out the memories, forcing steel into her spine as she fought back sudden tears. "She called me. She said she was coming to get me, and that I needed to do something, but then I lost the call... She can help me, and you can get me to her!"

"She didn't call you back?"

"No. I called her back about a hundred times, though. I must've left thirty messages."

Nonon suddenly turned and started pacing, breathing raggedly as she raked her hands through her hair, sending her hat flying.

"Matoi, this is bad, this is really bad."

"Eh?" Ryuko grunted, confused, her chain of thought abruptly broken.

"Ryuko," for the first time, Nonon used her given name, "Kiryuin Satsuki lives her day-to-day life in the presence of very dangerous, very unpredictable people. I'm surprised she's still alive, honestly. I don't know what goes on in that house, but whatever it is, it's seriously jacked up. If she called you and then just hung up and didn't call back, it means something went horribly wrong." Nonon started biting her nails, worry and stress threatening to fill her eyes with tears. If there was one person she loved in the world, it was Satsuki.

For now-selfish reasons, she wanted to help Ryuko. She knew that if they were going to make any headway, they would need information. Nonon knew an Intel guy, but at the same time, she wasn't willing to jeopardize her friend's ten-year plan just because she went into search-and-rescue overdrive. A sudden spark lit up Nonon's eyes as she remembered a distant event.

"Hold on, Matoi," she said gently to a now very jumbled Ryuko. "I think I can help." Again, she disappeared and returned, this time with a business card. "Here. I worked with this girl a long time ago. She's a disaster. She's unpredictable and ridiculous and an outright slacker, but she is one of the most talented hackers I've ever met. If you can get her to take your case, she can get you more ins with the Kiryuins than you'll have time for."

Ryuko took the card examining it carefully. It was covered in stickers of cats and glitter and was the most atrocious color imaginable.

"Keep me posted, Matoi," Nonon called over her shoulder as she turned to go back into the building. "And try not to do anything stupid."

Ryuko turned the card over to read the name on its back.

_Mankanshoku Mako _

xxx

Sorry for the short chapter. I have a tendency to go into troll-mode when I try to write about torture. "They bet you up and raped you and the dark lord gave you the posion," am I right? Anybody know what I'm talking about? Oh well. I'll try harder next chapter. Feel free to send any suggestions my way.


	8. Chapter 8

Ever since Ryuko was young, she'd loved roller skating. Her dad used to take her to the skating parties her insane orthodontist used to throw for all his patients, and though it was a poor excuse for an apology on the part of the man who tortured her face for money, she couldn't help looking forward to them every year.

Her dad wouldn't dish out the extra few dollars for in-line skates, but Ryuko didn't care. She loved the classic skates, with their smell of leather and their funny four-wheeled look. She would zoom through herds of younger kids drooling under the weight of the metric ton of metal in their mouths as they shuffled hopelessly over the polished floor. She didn't mind them. She remembered with great clarity the exhilaration of taking a wild leap over a sprawling turtleneck-wearing goon and drifting around the corner as parents, turned fierce with care, shouted angrily at her.

When she picked up a job in high school, she blew a significant amount of her money on skating passes. The rinks now free of kindergarteners, she threw her energies into learning to trick-skate. There was something about hurtling at high speeds towards a wall a mere fifty yards away, yet still knowing that all she needed to do was casually flick her heels or shift her weight to keep her from her fate that made her feel exquisitely alive.

It looked like walking, but felt like flying. She walked on the edge of death without realizing or acknowledging it.

Ryuko thought herself well-acquainted with this raw feeling of speed and unrealized danger, but the few moments she had felt so faded into insignificance as she came face-to-face with a woman who apparently lived her whole life on wheels.

She was utterly out of control, and yet so calm it made Ryuko's vision blur.

She had knocked on the door, hands clutching a bag of Jolly Ranchers (Nonon had insisted she bring them with her to appease what she called "the beast.") And, after a long interval, it was thrown open with such violence that wood dust was spattered out of the doorframe and onto Ryuko's jacket. A smallish woman stood before her, her hands crossed and thrown over her head in a gesture of haphazard indignation. She was wearing a crisp blue blazer over a white blouse, and she would've looked very professional if it hadn't been for the patterned pajama bottoms and bed-head.

"Mankanshoku Mako" she shouted, her cheeks puffed out in an attempt to set her mouth into a firm line. "Is no one's booty call!"

"I'm sorry, I just..."

"No!" She slammed her fist down into her open palm, coconut-shaped hair flying in a brown halo around her head. "People coming every which way, all times of day and night. Over here, over there. Everywhere! They want me for my body, my sweet, sweet body! How's a girl supposed to get any sleep? Oh, I'll be old and tired without my beauty sleep. Whoe- O...M...G!"

The girl's face lit up at the sight of the Jolly Ranchers clutched by a poor, slack-jawed Ryuko. Shouting out her delight, she grabbed them and pulled them inside, taking Ryuko with her.

Ryuko gasped in surprise as she was twirled into a chair. She sat down heavily, her hands frantically gripping the armrests, as she watched Mako eat the candy like sunflower seeds; a handful was thrown in and rolled around a bit before the wrappers came flying back out again in bullets of spitty cellophane. Nervously, she looked around the room. It was ill-lit and cluttered, but it looked like it could be homey with a little cleaning.

Mako, her ecstasy in the candy subsiding a bit, resumed her pseudo-frown, (though her mouth was still full and bulging) and pointed a finger at Ryuko.

"Who are you and who sent you here!?" she boomed with surprising depth. Ryuko blinked.

"I'm... uh... Matoi Ryuko... Jakuzure Nonon. I called earlier...?" The round-headed girl's face softened so suddenly it reminded Ryuko of butter in a microwave. Mako jumped into her lap and wrapped her arms around her neck and squeezed so tightly Ryuko thought she was going to die right then and there.

"Ohhh, yeah," Mako sighed happily, throwing her weight back so suddenly that they were both catapulted out of the chair and onto the carpet. Mako almost hit her head against the coffee table but paid it no mind, releasing Ryuko to roll to a sitting on her knees. "Ryuko, I remember! I can help you with the thing for your thing! Miss Nonon said that deal with the biz... I don't..." she looked confused for a moment, waving a hand over her face as if dispelling a cloud of uncertainty before hopping up and smacking her hands together with a resounding clap.

Ryuko sat huddled on the floor with her mouth open and her eyebrow raised.

_This kid must be on... something._

Her mind suddenly flashed to several moments that she sewed impulsively together. The insane, clearly (so she thought) drug-induced behavior, the glitter on the business card, and the remark Mako made about people wanting her for "her body." Ryuko went bright red as she juggled with the thought.

_If Jakuzure set me up with some... hooker to get me out of the office I will gut her like a-_

"Mako!" She shouted suddenly, getting the attention of the girl who had begun amusing herself by twirling on sock-feet on the glass top of an end table. Her focus broken, she almost careened into a grandfather clock before diverting at the last minute to twist into a salute.

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Why did you say people wanted you for your body?"

Mako relaxed again and took Ryuko familiarly by the hand, leading her into a back room.

"Because they do."

Ryuko gulped nervously, starting to tug at the hand on hers.

"But what you _mean_?"

To her great relief, the small, dark room was full to the bursting with computer monitors, some flickering out their lines of white code, others with paused internet games and movies. Mako let go of her hand to smash a pair of headphones over her own ears.

"They want me..." she lowered her voice to a whisper, looking around furtively as she conked herself on the head with her knuckles, making a sound not unlike a coconut. "for my brain."

"But..." weakly, Ryuko raised a finger. "You said body..."

"Heh?" Mako looked confused, cocking her head to one side. "My brain is part of my body, you big dumb!"

For the first time in a good while, Ryuko laughed. Partly from surprise, mostly from relief, but all the same it was a good, heavy, gut-twisting laugh that until that point she didn't know she desperately needed. Good-naturedly, Mako joined in, spinning a few times in her swivel chair and wrapping herself up in the cord on her headphones.

Ryuko wiped her face, her mouth still open in the laugh though the noise had receded.

_This won't be too bad. _

xxx

She didn't remember her first time. Or her second, really. There was a hazy, indeterminate period where all she remembered was abstract dread as she came to understand her fate, what it mean when her mother said,

"Satsuki, wait for me outside my room."

She remembered with great clarity, however, the day she said "no." It hadn't been a haphazard rebellion, a desperate shriek for mercy. No, even as young as she was, then, she already had the will to make a proper defiance.

She had stood outside the door to her mother's room, nervously clutching her clammy hands together. Fidgeting in a desperate attempt not to start pacing, she set her small mind to the task at hand.

_I'll just say "no." I mustn't cry. I'll just say it...and_, she struggled with the idea of whether she should run away afterwards. While her conscious knowledge of the appropriate gestures for a power-struggle were as yet underdeveloped, her instincts told her not to flee. _No, I won't run, I'll just stand there and say it... besides, she'd just catch me..._

Satsuki couldn't bring herself to think of what would happen after she said the forbidden word. All she knew was that she needed to say it, to set herself apart from her mother's lewd activity. She shuddered violently at the sudden remembrance of the hands prickling over her skin, of her mother slowly introducing her to the sexuality she was much too young for.

She knew she didn't deserve it.

_Father told me she was evil. This is what evil people do. _Satsuki set her mouth into a firm line. _I won't let her make me evil, too_.

A sudden brush of white past her downcast eyes startled her, then, and her stomach convulsed as she realized her mother had swept past her into the room beyond, leaving the door open in a silent, deliberate command.

_Come in_.

Satsuki forced her hands down to her sides, taking a slow breath. She stepped into the room, her feet, bare underneath her dress, feeling the thick white carpet. The room was lit only by the light from the bathroom, where Ragyo attended to her nightly toiletries.

"Undress," she said, their eyes meeting in the mirror, "And get into bed."

Glancing at the neatly made bed in the middle of the room, Satsuki wrestled with herself, making sure her voice wouldn't come out as a raw squeak. She set her legs, forcing them to stop trembling, and balled her fists.

"No."

"No?" Ragyo set down the washcloth she was using to wash her face and turned towards the main room, the brilliant radiance of her hair filling the poorly-lit space. Satsuki gulped, but held firm. To her great surprise, her mother chuckled.

Languidly, Ragyo reached out a hand and flicked off the bathroom light so that only her own luminescence lit the room. Walking slowly and in deathly silence, she approached her daughter, slowly stripping off her own clothes. Forcing her expression to go dead, Satsuki neither broke eye contact nor moved an inch, though as her mother approached and began to tower over her, her animal instincts begged her to look away, to smile her submission, and hopefully slink away unharmed.

_No_, she admonished herself even as fear threatened to make her blood boil. _I have to see this through._

Ragyo stopped suddenly before her, now completely naked as she looked down on her daughter with a crooked grin. At best, Satsuki came up to her bellybutton, so she had to crane her head back to continue to defiantly meet her mother's eyes.

"No." Satsuki said again, for good measure, her voice booming even in its unbroken youth. Ragyo took her suddenly by the jaw, tilting her head farther back and brushing her fingers against her throat. Resisting the unbearable urge to flinch and shudder, Satsuki held her gaze as she breathed unsteadily through her nose.

"You've made yourself weak, you know." Ragyo stated coolly, suddenly shifting her grip so she held Satsuki by the top of the head. Swiftly, she drove her knee into her daughter's chest, forcing her to double over as her body trembled with the coughs she couldn't release. Softly, her mother brushed the hair away from her back to get at the buttons that held her dress around her. Satsuki heard rather than felt the garment drift to the floor.

"You said no, you won't undress, but here you are," Ragyo purred as she slipped off the last of her daughter's clothes. "Undressed." Biting her lip, Satsuki held a hand over the bruise forming over the bone of her sternum. Her mind was screaming with panic and pain but all she could do was stare blankly at her mother.

"You said you won't go to bed." Taking a fistful of soft black hair, her mother picked her up and tossed her easily onto the mattress. "But look at you, in bed. You've made your intentions clear, but you've also made it clear how utterly weak and pathetic you are. You said 'no,' but you can't stop me. Sad."

Satsuki whimpered a little as her mother straddled her and pinned her arms over her head. Lightly, her mother scraped her nails down the girl's heaving stomach as she leaned in to whisper,

"Next time you tell me 'no,' make sure you're strong enough to follow through."

xxx

Satsuki gasped as the bindings over her face were roughly removed, shaking her from her half-conscious state of hallucination. The light blinded her, but instead of squinting, she kept her eyes shut. Despite the tactic, she couldn't help feeling disoriented as the cuffs around her limbs clicked open successively.

"I see I'm not getting through to you." Her mother's voice shrieked in her ears after hours of perfect silence. Her hands jumped a little as she went to cover her ears, but they stilled shakily as she forcibly kept them down. After a short while, Satsuki opened her eyes, struggling to focus on the blinding white blur before her.

Ragyo sat beside the bed, fingers steepled as she frowned. Satsuki was not responding as well as she should. The sensory deprivation, instead of filling her with fear and making her unbearably sensitive, had somehow made it easier for Satsuki to take her mind away and drift out of reach. Despite her disdain for the human breed, Ragyo couldn't help but be impressed with her daughter's force of will. A lesser creature would be crying in her lap by now.

Loosening her frown a little, Ragyo took pleasure in the thought of her child sniveling for comfort in her arms, but in the meantime she was frustrated.

And bored.

There's only so much fun you can have with someone who can't see or hear you, someone who is so clearly not paying any attention. Kiryuin Ragyo was not a creature to be ignored. She needed to be seen, for her power to be felt.

She needed time to devise a new tactic. Ragyo moved to the bed and took Satsuki's head, levering it forcefully down onto her lap. Satsuki stared back at her with utter disdain, her eyes a very pale blue. Her pupils had shrunk so small that they were mere pinpricks of black in the center of her irises, giving her a weird, alien look.

"What a failure you are, Satsuki," her mother murmured, running her hands through Satsuki's bangs, smoothing her eyebrows with her thumbs. "What am I going to do with you?" Drunk with power, Ragyo suddenly flipped her over and pressed her face into the mattress, effectively smothering her. Satsuki didn't bother to squirm. Her defiance, her refusal to allow her own mother to feel her writhing under her grip, enraged Ragyo. Her lips pulled back over her teeth and her breathing grew ragged before she suddenly snapped out of her delirium and sat back, folding her arms over her chest. Satsuki moved her face to the side to breathe and appraised her with one expressionless eye.

"Well, we'll see when I get back." Ragyo sighed, her voice suddenly light, airy. With incongruous playfulness, she gave Satsuki gentle spanking before rising and sweeping out of the room.

Sighing in relief, Satsuki sat up and raked her fingers through her hair. Despite her mother's conviction that the past few days had done nothing to wear her down, she was feeling exceptionally fragile. Her mind felt flaky and crusty, like the top of old baklava. She had receded into her memories to avoid the prison of the black box, but the pain her mother had inflicted had forced her mind to synch with reality such that she could only relive the worst experiences of her life. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and almost casually considered her body. She was badly bruised and her breathing was tight over her ribs, but she deemed herself fit for action and stood slowly, fighting off the sparks that began to float at the edges of her vision.

_I need food. And tea. _

She wrenched the door open and slid out into the hallway, heading towards her room. She ignored the mousy-looking maid who squeaked and held the linens in her arms over her face when she walked by.

_And clothes, I suppose._

Somehow, she got into the kitchen sometime later and sat at the counter nursing her tea, trying to kick-start her brain back into action. She was struck with how incredibly random her mother's attack had been.

_Have I been careless? Does she know? _

She shook her head and formulated her next move. Gritting her teeth, she sat up suddenly as she remembered in a flash what she had been doing the day before.

_Matoi!_

Genuine fear flooded her veins as she remembered Nui's hunt and the vulnerable state Satsuki had left Ryuko in.

_Good God, she may already be dead. I have to find her._

In the back of her mind, Satsuki knew she was acting uncharacteristically, that regularly she would constrain her search to a few discreet phone calls; but the thought of Ryuko dying in Harime's cruel hands dried her mouth and set her head spinning. She consoled herself with the notion that going out for a brisk walk would do her good, and that she wasn't merely indulging herself.

_Everything is still in place. I can afford a side-interest._

She pushed down the sudden bloom of heat in her chest and strode hastily to the foyer, pausing to snatch Bakuzan out of the umbrella stand.

She chose a pea-coat with a deep inside pocket to shove her sheathed blade into and was struggling into it with tight, sore muscles when Kuroido suddenly appeared in the doorway.

"Miss Satsuki," he announced, his small mustache bristling, "Your mother has informed me that you are not to leave the house in her absence." Annoyed, Satsuki drew herself up to her full height and turned to face him.

"Oh?" she sneered, her haste giving her bile. "Are you going to stop me?"

"No, silly." Nui called from her seat on the stairway banister, swinging her legs carelessly. "I am."

Harime Nui closed her one eye and giggled.

xxx

Okaaaaaaay, way too many character expo chapters in succession. I swear there'll be actual plot in the next chapter, bear with me!

Anyway, I'm sorry if my Mako is an abomination unto the Lord. I understand her the least out of everyone, but I'm working on it!


	9. Chapter 9

I just discovered that there's a book out there called "Amish Vampires in Space." I must have it! Also, I now ship Nui and Mason Verger. The perfect godawful sibling tag-team!

xxx

Nui slipped off the banister, not caring that, if the whole world's population was standing behind her, they all would have seen her underwear under her atrocious pink skirt. Satsuki brought her heels together sharply, shoving her hands into her coat pockets and jerking her chin up to look down on her sister.

"I see that making a mockery of the unfortunate is now part of your design portfolio, Nui," said Satsuki, breathing into her chest and expanding her ribcage, "Hm. Purple. It doesn't look good on you."

"I wanna see what you look like all purple, Kiki," Nui drawled, reaching up to snap her new eye-patch up onto her forehead, revealing the still-raw hole where her eye used to be. Huffing, she gripped her hands behind her back and crossed her legs at the ankle, swaying over to lean against the wall behind the landing. "Huh. Who's mocking the disabled now?"

Ignoring the gruesome spectacle, Satsuki lidded her eyes and tilted her chin minutely.

"If you're going to wear your name like a badge on your face, you deserve to be mocked." Though mildly curious, she hadn't the temper to ask Nui about her eye. "Now, if you'll excuse me..." She turned to grasp the handle of the front door mere feet from where she stood, but before she could make the small motion, Nui was across the floor and inches from her face, blocking the door.

"Didn't you hear butler-man? Mama said no." Nui gurgled, taking a small leap to place a peck on her sister's tightly-drawn lips. Satsuki sneered and jerked back, wiping her mouth roughly with the back of her hand.

"I owe you no pretense, Harime," she snarled, "Get out of my way." Nui's one eye twitched, her mouth twisting into a smooth grin. She stepped suddenly into Satsuki's personal space, pushing her back when she refused to move.

"Oh, so you let Mama do what she wants with you because you have something to gain, you whore? Don't think I don't hear when Mommy makes you moan like the little slut you are." Satsuki narrowly avoided the hand lashing out to grab her by the ear, dodging smoothly, hands still in pockets. "Why don't you make those noises for me, hm?"

"You are a poor lover, Harime Nui," she answered coldly, the truth adding bite to the retort. "Why do you think everyone who's had the misfortune of taking you into their bed immediately loses their phone and inexplicably needs to leave the country? Have you ever had a second date?"

"Aren't you just adorable?" Nui hissed, eyes darkening, her heels clacking as she backed her sister against the outer edge of the balustrade. "Why don't I show you what a _fantastic_ fucker I am?"

"You've always had a way with words, haven't you?" Satsuki kept her demeanor cool even as Nui gripped her by the throat, though her mind was racing. She was in no condition for a fight. She had never held out longer than ten minutes in a fair match against Nui. Then again...

_I have Bakuzan now, and she is newly vulnerable to her left. _

She immediately squashed the idea.

_I can't squander the element of surprise. It's not time yet. I cannot reveal my secret until I am shown the Original._

Satsuki sighed, closing her eyes as Nui raised a fist.

_I hate this. _

She removed herself from her resigned dread and was about to enter her unfeeling plane of stoic existence when a blur on the banister caught her attention. She didn't have time to turn her head before a screaming mass of hair and muscle crashed into her, sending her into Nui and toppling them both to the floor. In the split second in which she had a squirming Nui pinned under her superior weight, she instinctively drove the heel of her hand into her sister's left eye, grinding into it like a pestle. Nui screeched like a banshee and thrashed on the ground, sending her sister head-over-heels.

Satsuki looked up, the sudden bout of adrenaline coursing through her dispelling any more thoughts of submission. She balled her fists, her limbs scorching with fire as she prepared to fight. But the Banister-Blur was already there, picking her up and throwing her thoughtlessly over its shoulder. It was yelling, shouting into her ear, and she was shouting back, screaming her confusion and lust for violence. Even as she did, however, a tiny voice in her head said in its cool, amused voice,

_Well, that was unexpected._

xxx

A few days earlier:

"What do you mean, 'you can't'?"

"I'm sorry, Ryuko!"

She did look sorry, big, shiny tears glossing her equally big eyes. Surprised at the reaction, Ryuko backed off, waving her hands and muttering.

"Okay, okay! What have we been doing all week, then?" To Ryuko's great dismay, Mako wasn't really into video games, despite her aptitude for code manipulation. She had spent hours playing the only game in the house as Mako clattered away at her keyboard, and she was really, _really _sick of it. Ryuko was in her eighth year on the farm in Harvest Moon, and _still_ hadn't shorn any X wool. She had sworn to herself that if she sheared her sheep one more time without results, she would straight up murder it. "What am I paying you for? Wait, am I paying you?"

Mako shrugged, making a nonplussed noise before sighing and slipping off her chair to the floor in a squiggling motion that could only be described as 'melting.' She held her hands towards the ceiling, elbows locked, as she intently considered her fingernails.

"It's like the pentagram in there!"

"The what?" Ryuko sniggered at the malapropism, but maintained her indignant expression. "You mean the Pentagon?"

"Everything, everything is on lockdown so tight a candelabra couldn't fit through!"

"C-candelabra?"

"Through that buttery needle of salvation!"

"Eh?" Ryuko shook her head and ignored the unfathomable metaphor, setting her mind to the task at hand. "I remember, like, five years back, REVOCS stock crashed 'cause of some hacker. It was a big deal. On the news..." Mako sat up suddenly, an idea sparking as clearly as if a lightbulb had flipped on over her head. She leaped into her chair and started slapping at keys. Interested, Ryuko looked over her shoulder and was surprised to find lines of code appearing on the screen, apparently caused by Mako's haphazard keystrokes.

"What are you doing?" But Mako was in her own world, typing away and humming a cute little song to herself. Ryuko groaned and threw herself back into her chair, itching restlessly at her side. Deciding almost instantly that she couldn't sit for one more second, she jumped back up and grabbed her jacket.

"I'm going out. I'll be back with food."

"Potatoes and molasses, if you want some, oh, just ask us." Mako sang, swaying in her oblivion. Ryuko shook her head, feeling some incongruous affection towards the girl before slipping out.

xxx

Mako met her at the door and presented her with two flash drives.

"Here you go, goodbye, have fun!" she crowed, shoving them into Ryuko's hands and making a good-natured attempt to push her out the door.

"Wait, Mako! What? Calm down!" Ryuko muscled her way into the flat, holding the bag of food over her head as Mako shoved at her. Quickly, she pulled out a burger and tossed it gingerly to Mako. Eyes lighting up, Mako gave up on her quest and began devouring the sandwich, moving to the living room to flop onto the couch. Sighing, Ryuko sat in the armchair and considered the drives in her hand. "What are these for?" She asked, taking a bite of her own burger.

"Well, that first one is to help you break into the Kiryuin mansion and that other one is-"

"_What!?"_ Ryuko inhaled a chunk of meat and immediately coughed it out again, spraying the coffee table with bits of lettuce and ketchup. Embarrassed, she grabbed a napkin and started cleaning up her mess but kept her eyes fixed on Mako, who nodded and took an enormous bite.

There was an awkward period as Ryuko finished cleaning and just sat on the floor and stared at Mako while waiting for the other girl to finish chewing. _Should I say something?_ Ryuko thought. _Nah, I'll just sit here and look shocked and appalled. That'll get her to talk._

It didn't. Mako finished eating and (not before snuffling around the empty paper sack for more food) smiled and made a shooing motion with her hands.

"That's right, just stick it in and we're good to go! You got this girl!"

"Mako, what are you talking about?" Ryuko stared at the geek sticks still in her hands, her heart beating furiously. She hadn't bargained on any breaking and entering (maybe Mako was joking. She had to be joking.) but at the same time a furious little voice screamed at her to do it, to do whatever it took to find her father's killer.

It was Nui. It had to be. Ryuko's blood began to boil and she closed her fist over the piece of plastic. She could still feel her father's blood on her hands as she tried to save him, the unbearable heat of the fire. She loved him, but hardly knew him. Now she would never know him. Her mind drifted to the violin case parked by the door, what was inside.

_Whoever has the other half..._ Her speeding thoughts slowed to a standstill. She needed an in. She needed _information_.

_No one's going to just give it to me. I have to take it myself_. The languid thought shifted and clicked suddenly as her mind flitted to Satsuki. Ryuko shook her head. She hadn't heard from her in over a week, not since the fire. _She's not interested in helping me_. Ryuko snapped back to reality and realized Mako was talking.

"-into the security. The cameras will be mine!" Mako made walky fingers in the air. "And then you can sneak around until you find a computer and put the blue one in, okay? Okay."

Ryuko would later wish that she had paid attention more carefully, but she was already out the door, slinging the instrument case over her shoulder.

xxx

_Why am I so damn stupid? Did someone drop me on my head? What the fuck is wrong with me?_

Ryuko stood in the last copse of trees that surrounded the Kiryuin manor before the lawn opened into a perfectly manicured lantana garden. And then the house itself. She had left her bike on a deer-trail a few hundred yards away, and she wanted nothing more than to slink back, get on it, and quietly drive away.

_Harime New-Age Fuckbucket's looking for me anyway._ Ryuko thought, scratching at her scalp. _I could just declare myself... yeah, and end up dead in a river._ Though she was as ready for a good scrap as the next girl, Ryuko knew when she was outmatched. She shuddered as she felt the ghost of Nui's icy fingers going up her shirt. She clutched her jacket to herself and sprinted to the wall of the manor, slipping into a niche that held a security box. Feeling very competent and cool, she wiggled it open and took a peek inside, gloved hand poised to shove the flash drive into whatever port she could find.

To her dismay, there was nothing vaguely USB-looking in the box. There was a bundle of wires, a keypad, and a circuit board. Nothing else. Her breathing grew labored as she struggled to find a place to put the key.

_Damnit, damnit, damnit!_ She had timed the rotation of the outdoor guards, but hadn't accounted for a glitch. There was no time for a glitch! As she heard the tramping of a pair of boots round the corner, she frantically searched for an opening, any opening. The boots were growing louder. Ryuko imagined she could smell the sweat on the man's face as he grew ever closer to her hiding spot. Frantic, she gave up and threw the useless key into a bush and removed her gloves to shimmy like a squirrel up a gutter-pipe to the second floor, sweaty hands providing ample grip. She jimmied open a cracked window and squeezed in just in time for the guard to pass without noticing her.

She breathed a sigh of relief before realizing that there was a corner camera in the room and it was looking right at her. Ryuko grinned nervously and waved at it before sprinting out the door.

_Out, out, out, why am I so fucking stupid?! _

Ryuko ran down the hall, sure she could hear an alarm sound from deep within the mansion. She tripped over a mop bucket, sending dirty water all over the blue-veined marble. A few maids gaped at her, and Ryuko immediately felt bad for undoing all of their hard work, but she kept running, haphazardly throwing open doors and looking inside. She heard men's shouts from behind and she dashed into what looked like a home office.

_Why did I wear this leather jacket? I look like a total perp! I could've played this off as "innocent prankster," but no, Ryuko, you had to look cool!_

She looked around the room, eyes scanning for escape. Instead, her eyes lit on a laptop computer resting serenely on a mahogany desk. For a split second, Ryuko paused in the doorway, unsure, before she leapt across the room and grabbed the computer, shoving it into her backpack before dashing out into the hall again to run for her life.

She ran faster than she ever had before in her life. It was if the fear pounding in her stomach and throat were giving her wings. To her peripheral delight, she quickly outstripped her pursuers, who were clearly confused by her random door-opening. The large hall led to a balcony over the foyer, and Ryuko went to skitter out the doors, run like a demon to her bike, get the hell away, and barf into a trashcan, when a familiar voice froze her blood in her veins.

"Why don't I show you what a _fantastic_ fucker I am?" Nui's voice was high-pitched, as always, but there was undeniable menace.

"You've always had a way with words, haven't you?" Ryuko narrowed her eyes at the sound of Satsuki's voice, daring to peek through the parallel shafts of the balusters. Nui had her sister by the throat against the bottom of the banister and was getting much too close for Ryuko's comfort.

_Ugh, _Ryuko shuddered, _She's just gonna let her do creepy shit to her?_ Ryuko remembered the impossibly strong hand on her neck and her blood ran cold. She stared, frozen in horror, as Nui leaned into Satsuki even as her hand twisted into a fist.

There were shouts behind her and Ryuko was shaken from her mental snare as she recalled that she was being pursued. The only way out was through that door, and Nui was right in her way. Taking a deep breath, she did the first thing that came to her mind.

She slipped down the banister, head first, screaming like a wild animal, hoping to grasp the elusive element of surprise. To her great relief, Harime's eyes (eye? Ryuko noticed the eye patch out of the corner of her eye and filed it away for future consideration) were closed and her face was pressed into her sister's hair. Ryuko smashed into them both, sending them sprawling into the foyer. There was one single moment of consideration as Ryuko looked between Satsuki and the door, and, as Nui screamed and writhed on the ground in pain, Ryuko decided.

_She owes me answers_, she thought, not willing to admit even to herself that she wanted to play hero. With a strength she didn't know she had, she caught Satsuki around the waist and hoisted her over her shoulder, yelling at her to hold still as she wrenched the door open and ran as fast as she could into the woods surrounding the Kiryuin estate.

So Matoi Ryuko kidnapped a supermodel.

xxx

Yay, plot! Sorry for the delay. Exam week was rough. Some girl bit me in the library, and that's not a euphemism. She literally put her teeth into my arm. Geez...

Are any of you following InoBato? Holy shirt! At first I was like, "Hm, Sayumi is kinda like a normal high-school Satsuki, but no, I won't force her into a box... That's not fair." But then we meet her little sister and she looks so freaking much like Ryuko! Being all cute and normal and annoying little sister! Ahh, no, Trigger! Not in my feels! What are you doing!?


End file.
